1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to modular insulating concrete forms of the type which receive poured concrete and are abandoned in place after pouring, thereby becoming an integral part of a static structure being built. The invention is particularly applicable to residential and light commercial construction. The novel forms are usable by homeowners, contractors, municipal, industrial, and institutional personnel in building and improving existing structures wherever insulated load bearing walls are to be built from poured concrete.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Left-in-place insulting concrete forms for building walls from poured concrete are known. In commercial practice, courses of forms are stacked until the final desired height of a wall is attained. Concrete is poured into the erected forms and allowed to cure. Erection of multi-course forms prior to pouring concrete must be carefully performed. It is necessary that the forms be properly aligned with respect to one another to assure that finished wall surfaces are flat and flush. Also, opposing exterior panels of each form section must be held in place without distortion of overall configuration of the form.
Tie brackets spanning inner and outer opposing panels of each section for providing support to the opposing panels of a form are known. However, most prior art tie brackets are designed with narrow focus on the immediate function of stabilizing a form. Ancillary functions, such as expediting assembly of the form and supporting elements of plumbing, power, and communications systems of the completed structure, are not provided for in known prior art tie brackets.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,730,422, issued to David A. Young on Mar. 15, 1988, shows a tie for supporting and bracing panels of a left-in-place form. The tie has spaced apart parallel end plates and a spanning web. The web includes two open areas and four short projections for retaining reinforcing rods. However, the tie of Young cannot accommodate plumbing and electrical elements as can the novel tie bracket, and is not conducive to being sawed horizontally in half, both being characteristics of the present invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,459,971, issued to Alan Sparkman on Oct. 24, 1995, shows a tie for concrete forms which tie, despite its several interior openings, cannot accommodate placement of plumbing and electrical elements from the side as can the novel tie bracket. The tie of Sparkman is not conducive to being sawed horizontally in half in the manner of the novel tie bracket.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,845,449, issued to Jamieson R. Vaughan et al. on Dec. 8, 1998, shows a tie for a concrete forming system. The subject tie includes many interior openings, but these openings lack the proportions and dimensions which enable the novel tie bracket to be highly compatible with plumbing and electrical elements, interfitting notches and projections which enable vertically stacked forms to be advantageously aligned, and to be sawed horizontally.
None of the above inventions and patents, taken either singly or in combination, is seen to describe the instant invention as claimed.